Why you should play… The Mighty Quest For Epic Loot

The Mighty Quest For Epic Loot is one of the first free-to-play games developed by the gigantic Ubisoft studio and one that tries to bring something new to the table. Currently in open beta, this is a game that blends Diablo hack & slash action with Dungeon Keeper castle building. Even if it still needs some tweaking, it has a lot going for it, as you can see below.

While we fondly remember the two classic Dungeon Keeper games developed by Bullfrog and crave the third game that never seems to become a reality, we are treated to… the iOS cash-grab Dungeon Keeper. Oh well. Anyway, The Mighty Quest For Epic Loot has this kind of Dungeon Keeper feel to it, in that you have to add rooms to your castle and fill them with traps and distinct types of enemies. Then it’s up to the other players to try to loot your castle and put your evil ways to the test. It’s incredibly addictive and there’s a non-negligible level of showboating to seeing the other players’ heroes being crushed by your maniac chicken. It’s not perfect, but Ubisoft added the option where you have to validate your castle before publishing it, definitely a good thing that helps avoid having dungeons designed with impossibility of survival in mind.

Diablo-lite hack & slash gameplay

The Mighty Quest For Epic Loot is a pretty good Diablo style hack & slash game that is best enjoyed when you play for an hour or two at a time. You currently have four classes (Archer, Knight, Mage and Runaway) and the game is very simple to play and dive into for hours on end – this is a game that is also suited for very short play sessions, unlike most MMORPGs nowadays.

Funny and over the top

The announcement trailer for The Mighty Quest For Epic Loot set the tone of the game – it was going to be a funny dungeon crawler at heart. Luckily, the overall design of the game was faithful to this intention and the game features a quirky art style for the main characters and enemies, as well as some jokes that are usuallymore hit than miss. Add to that some fitting music and funny sound effects and the game has this relaxed vibe that is capable of making you smile, if not laugh once in a while.

Great competitive setup

While The Mighty Quest For Epic Loot can be a fun game at heart if you’re not the competitive type, underneath lies a completely different beast. The concept of creating dungeons filled with enemies and setting up traps is incredibly tempting since you know that real players – not AI heroes – are going to try to outwit them. The leaderboards are difficult to ignore, as is the fact that you can create more and more complex castles as you level up your hero and castle. Suddenly, you’ve clocked dozens and dozens of hours in this game without noticing it. On the other hand, the “pay-to-win or not” discussion is always a hot topic, but while you can buy some experience boosts, the Runaway character (at the time of writing, since it will most likely become free when another character is added) and a few visual tweaks, it’s business as usual – you can progress without paying if you spend a lot of time playing, and you definitely will if you like the game. Nothing new here, most free-to-play games use something like this.

One of the most original MMOs

It’s an undeniable truth that nowadays most MMORPGs seem to just copy the usual template: third-person view, fantasy world, kill ten rats quests, grind, level up and repeat until you either quit or reach the endgame. The Mighty Quest For Epic Loot is one of a kind, a game that manages to blend its two halves seamlessly and comes out as refreshing. It’s certainly not a perfect game and never will be, and while the open beta is indication that it still needs quite a bit of work, this is a fun game, original, and best in small doses. Not perfect, flawed in some aspects, but extremely entertaining.